EMISSIONS OF OIL-FIRED FURNACES BURNING WITH SODIUM CHLORIDE-CONTAINED AIR

Because of the increasing concern about the global environmental pollu tion and health problems, the burning of marine and industrial heavy o il-fired furnaces operated in atmospheric air of high sodium chloride content has long attracted much research interest. It is known that ma ny complex compounds of oxides could be formed from the oxidation proc ess of a degraded heavy oil containing various extents of toxic metall ic compounds of vanadium, potassium, etc. with the inlet air of high s odium chloride content, which results in an alteration of emission cha racteristics of a combustion unit. In this study, a small furnace asso ciated with an industrial burner was employed to investigate the influ ences of the existence of sodium chloride in atmospheric air on the em issions of marine or industrial oil-fired furnace. The burning gas cha racteristics such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, gas temperature were analyzed using a gas analyzer and a L-type thermocouple. This stu dy shows that the emission is affected to a significant extent by the presence of sodium chloride. Poorer atomization and in turn less compl ete burning of the injected oil was caused by the addition of NaCl in the inlet air. The formations of excess oxygen, carbon monoxide, and s ulfur dioxide were enhanced while the emission of carbon dioxide was i nhibited with the existence of sodium chloride in the inlet air. In ad dition, the nitrogen oxides emission decreased with the addition of so dium chloride primarily due to the lower attainable gas temperature.